Thread guide



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stres assaosrv w 'rnREAD lGUiDI': ,I Paul W. Markwood, Enkafand Jackson A. Moore,

Asheville, N. C'., assignors to American. :Enka I Corporation, Enka, N. C., a corporation of Dela- Ware vApplication November 15, 1946, serial No. 709,988

3 Claims. (Cl. 242-157) w This invention relates to threadguides and 'ment to knitters, it' is customary to wind the twisted .thread into conical bodie and to apply the finish or lubricant to the thread d"ring this 'winding operation. The coning is effected' by drawing the thread upwardly from a source, such as a'bobbin or' package, and by laying up succeeding cross-wound courses thersof on a driven take-up device such as a conical support. Between the threadsource and the take-up device, the thread is passed across a rotating cylindrical roller which is partially immersfd in a lubricating liquid to provide a cylindrical film of lubricatfng liquid in the path of the thread during the, coning operation.

In the oiling of a. thread during a coning operation it has been foundthat the thread in passage over the oiling roller tends to vibrate to such an extent as to cause very uneven application of the oil to the thread. -Furthermore, excessive vibration results in tension peaks which in turn cause a large number of end breaks, thereby reducing the quality of the thread produced.

damping` thread guide of the present' invention;

Figure 3 is a view in bottom plan view of said guide; and

Figura 4 is a view in side elevationof said guide.

Referring now'in greater detail to the drawings and particularly to Figura 1, the numeral lorepresents a bobbin'constituting a source of thread to be wound into conical form, the bobbin being mounted Von a spindle extending upwardly from a platform? Il at the front of the machine. The

' thread |`2 is drawn upwardly from the bobb'in by Efi'orts have been made to ovcrcome the foregoing diflisulties but these have, in general, been unsuccessful due to the fact that the means provided for damping the vibration of the thread were either complex in design and hcnce costly to build, or were, simple in design but were not self-threading so that their use resulted in excessive time loss in rethreading in the event of thread breakage.

It is an object of this invention to overco'me Vthe foregoing disadvantages and to provide for the damping of thread vibration before and during the passage of thread over an oiling roller and to accomplish the damping with a simple thread guide which is inexpensive to construot and install and which is of the self-threading Other objects and advantages of this Invention will be apparent upon conslderation of the following detailed description of a preferred embodimlent thereof in connection with the annexed drawings wherein: s

Figure 1 isa diagrammatic view in eleyation4 of a portion of a typical coning machine showing the vibration damping thread guide of the present invention in operative association therewith;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the vibration a rotating spindle 'I3 carrying thereon a 'cone support |4. Between the bobbin |0 and the cone supportu, the thread is passed through a pigtailguide |5 attached to the frame IS of the machine, through a guide I'l, constructed in accordance with the' teachings of the present invention and illustrated more fully in Figures 2, 3 and 4 and' finally through a pigtail guide |8. Between the guides I'l and |8 the thread is passed generally tangentially over a cylindrical emulsion roller |9 mounted for rotation on a horizontal shaft and dipping in a trough 20 containing a vlubricating liquid which is to be applied to the thread.

Since the shaft |3 rotates at a constant speed throughout the winding period and since the body of thread builds upon the cone support ll, it is apparent that thethread take-up speed increases progressively throughout the winding period. This causes the thread to move more rapidly across the emulsion roller |9 and to prevent this increase in speed from varying the amount of oil applied to the thread, the guide |8 is mounted for lateral movement on a bracket |8a and is automatically laterally shifted to increase the length of the thread path over the roller [9 as the cone`increasesfin diameter and the take-up speed 4increas'es. Since the mode of driving the `Vspindle 13, the operation of the bracket |8a and themode of driving roller |9 are all well known and form no part of the present invention, they are not describedinvdetail herein.

To prevent vibration of the thread in its passage across the roller l9, the guide ll is employed. This guide comprises three vertically spaced bars 2|, 22 and 23 formed from a single piece of heavy Wire or the like. One end of the wire is threaded at 24 to constitute a point of attachments to the machine. Immediately adjacent the threaded portion' 24, the wire is bent in an oval loop 25 to define a crossbar 26 which lies above thev uppermost bar 2| of the three vertically spaced bars. From the endof the oval loop 25`the Wire material continues in the plane azssaeei and direction of the threaded end 2| to define loop 21 to`define in the same horizontal plane a loop 28 and the bar 23, the former being provlded' to prevent displacement of the thread in a direction outwardly from the machine. The wire material at the inner or machine side of the bar 23 is bent upwardly in a loop 29 leading to the intermediate bar 22. Theiintermediate bar 22 ends in an angular projection at 30. The projection at 30 lies about 90 away from the loop 21 and it is apparent that such construction renders the guide -|1 very easy to thread up.

The guide is attached to the front of a coning machine by'mounting it on a bracket 3| having a hole therein for the reception of the threaded portion 24 of the guide l'l. use of nuts (not shown) on either side of the bracket, the thread guide may be mounted in various positions of adjustment with respect to the bracket 3|, that is, either spaced relatively far out from the bracket or relatively close to it. By these adjustments, it is -possible to accurately adiust the thread contact against the emulsion cylinder |9 and to cause the thread to bear against the crossbar 26.

Referring again to Figure 1 it is seen that threading-up the machine requires first the es- The guide l'l is threaded-u by passing the ,thread between the loops 25 and 28 and to the right of bars 23, 22 and 2|, as they are viewed in Figure 2. A loop is then pulled in the thread 'between the bars 2| and 23. This 100p is released into the month of the notch defined be- By the tween the wire loop 21 of the guide l'l and the projection 30 thereof. Upon release of the thread loop at this point it is pulled out by the thread tension and the thread iswguided in a tortuous passageway to the right of bars 2| and 23 and to the left of bar 22 and confined between crossbar 26 in one direction and loop 28 in the other. It has been found that the thread when confined in the guide ll, as indicated above, does not vibrate in its passage across the oiling roller l9. Furthermore, threading-up is extremely simple and slack thread can be removed during starting of the coning spindle |3 by pullng the end forward above the guide. The

4 loop 28 prevents the thread from disengaglng itself from the guide.

What is claimed is:

1. A thread guide comprising three vertically spaced bars, each including a straight thread guiding portion extending across the direction of thread travel and outwardly from a support, said thread guiding portions all lying in substantially the same Vertical plane, the upper and lower of 'said bars coacting with the middle bar to deflne a month facing outwardly of the support for the reception of a thread loop so as to render the guide self-threading, and a crossbar above the toptiost of said spaced bars and in the thread 2. A thread guide comprising three vertically spaced. generally horizontal bars, each including a straight thread guiding portion, said portions all lying in substantially the same vertlcal piane and together defining a tortuous thread path and means constituting a part of said thread guide for restraining a thread against excessive movement in a plane parallel to said bars, said means comprising a loop integral with the uppermost bar and a loop integral with the lowermost bar, said loops lying at opposite end: of the respective bars.

3. An adjustable thread guide comprised of a single length of material bent to define three verticaliy spaced, generally horizontalbars, each including a straight thread guiding portion, said portions all lying in substantialiy the same vertical plane and together defining a tortuous thread path, said single length of material also defining two loops for limiting movement of a thread in a plane parallel to the bars, one of said loops being integral with the uppermost bar and the other being integral with the lowermost bar, the lowermost bar being supported from the uppermost bar and the intermediate bar being supported from the lowermost bar, the connection between said uppermost and lowermost bars defining with an end of the intermediate bar a notch facing outwardly from the machine to facilitate threading-up of the guide.

PAUL W. MARKWOOD. JACKSON A. MOORE.

BEFERENCES CI'I'ED4 The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Decker Nov. 6, 1945 

